Coating-machine.



A. B. STARR.

COATING MACHINE.

APPLICATION msn 1m30. 1913.

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WW1/Leonce: 7?@ ZI A. B. STARR.

COATING MACHINEl APPLICATION FILED IAN.30. |913.

Patented Aug. 3 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@noel/woz aidu., Syvum -H UH .WH LIVIHIFIIII i To all whom 'it may concern:

D STATES ALBEN/R. STARR, or NEW YORK,

COMPANY, INC., A. CORPORTION 0F MASSACHUSETTS. l

COATING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patenti Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

Application ledvilanuary 30, 1913. Serial No. 745,132.

Be it known that I, ALDEN STARR, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have irlvented certain new and useful Improvements in Coating-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and' exact description.

' This invention relates to the art of coating articles such as receptacles and .vessels of various kinds, with paraffin or other material, to render them moisture-proof and liquid-tight. In the manufacture of articles of this kind from paper, pulp and such materials, itis customary to apply to the article after it has received its final shape, a thin coating of paraffin both inside and outside, and in doing this heretofore, difficulty has been experienced in avoiding the waste of paraiin and preventing the application of too much paraffin to the article.

The object of my invention is to provide aA process and machine by which a thin coating of parain or wax can be applied to the external and internal surfaces of the article without'waste, and to accomplish this in a rapid and efiicient manner. l

The invention consists in the process and machine hereinafter described in detail and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine, a considerable portion thereof being shown i`n dotted lines; and Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line A-A of Fig. l.

Thesupporti'ng frame of the machine is in the form of a table or bench comprising two string-pieces 1, secured together at each end and supported upon legs 2. Depending Lrom the under side of this table is an elongated tank 3 surrounded by a water-j acket 4,

the tank being suspended from the stringpieces 1 by means of`straps 5. This tank is adapted to contain paraffin or other wax,

which is maintained in liquid condition by hot water in the water-jacket, the water being heatedby gas llamespor any other suitable means applied to the underside of the jacket, but not herein shown. Near one end of the table and also depending from its under side, is a frame 6 supporting an electric or other motor 7 and a pump 8. The pump is adapted to draw the liquid paraiiin from the tank 3 through vthe pipe 9 which is controlled by a valve 10, and to force the parprovided by a hood 18 of sheet-metal which extends throughout the length of the table, the hood being closed at the top and on both sides. For a portion of its length this chamber is higher than it is in the remaining portion, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. Within the higher portion of the chamberand practically forming the bottom thereof, is an inclined floor 19 which leads from the end of the chamber to the tank 3, to conduct liquid paraflin which may fall upon it into the tank. Throughoutthe length of the tank, the chamber opens directly thereinto through the space in the table between the string-pieces 1-1, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the upper portion of the higher part of the chamber is arranged an endless carrier 20 consisting of two `chains running side by side and passing over sprocket-wheels 21 and 22 mounted upon horizontal shafts 23 and 24, this carrier being driven by the pinion 17 in mesh with the bevel gear 25 on lshaft 24. The upper run of this carrier is supported by a board or plate 26 extending throughout the length thereof and is prevented from sagging thereby under the weight of the articles which it is to carr This board is supported by the pieces 2%. On the shaft 23 which is located near the point where the higher part of the chamber joins the lower Dart, is another sprocketwheel of substantially the same diameter as the wheel 21, over which an endless chain 28 passes in a vertical direction to another sprocket-wheel below it on shaft 29. This shaft carries two other s rocket-wheels of the same diameter, and in icated by 30, over which another endless carrier travels, which carrier leads along the full length of the lower part of the chamber and passes over sprocket-wheels 31 mounted upon a suitable shaft at the extreme end or outlet of the machine. This carrier is composed of two Vtop of the table.

chains and is of substantially the same c onstruction as the carrier 20, the upper run of which is supported by the stationary board or plate 32.to prevent sagging, this board being sustained bj` the brackets 33 from the hese carriers run through ythe center of the chamber and they are flanked on each side by pipes 34lthrough which steam 'or hot water may be passed to keep the chamber at a high temperature and thereby prevent'the cooling of the wax. The

lheating pipes are separated from the middle portion of the chamber by vertical vlongitudinal partitions 35 and 36 whlch restrict the central chamber over the carriers to a `space but little wider than the distance between the chains comprising thecarriers. As the cartons or receptacles such as milk v bottles are necessarily of suliicient diameter the chamber will therefore be in close prox-y to permit the same to rest on both chains of the carrier (see Fig. 2), the side walls of imity to the articlesA supported thereby, which will prevent lateral displacement of such articles when subjected to the flow of.v paraiiin directed against them at-d1iferent angles, as will be apparent from the operation. 'j

The pipe 11 leading out of the pump 8 1s provided with a branch 37, which leads along the top of the table for about half the length of the parafin tank and 1s provided vat intervals with nozzles 38 which rise through openings inthe supporting board 32 and terminate just below the, upper run of the carrier supported thereby The ends of these nozzles may be perforated or wholly openland they maybe directed straight upward, as shown, or'in Various directions, in order to distribute the material thrown by them. The pipe llis further provided with branches 39 leading topoints below the upper run of the carrier 20 where they are {itted with nozzles 40, `which likewise may be 'of suitable construction to distribute the wax in a generally upward direction. The pipe 11 rises still farther to the'top of the higher portion of the. chamber and is there fitted with two other nozles 41 which4 are directed generally downward toward the carrier kbut at a suflicient elevation therelfrom to permit of the articles to be treated to pass under them without interruption.

Adjacent the sprocket-wheel 21 is attached a transverse rod 42 of a length 4to extend approximately across the width of the car-l rier 20. This rod .is supported in the extremities of two arms 43 pivoted to the side partitions 35 and .36 upon a screw-stud 44 which passes through a slot in each arm. By

this arran ement, the elevation and angularv position o the rod may be adjusted with respect, to the adjacent axis over which the carrier runs, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. At the extreme left end and in the roof of the chamber, is a hopper or opening 45,' through which the artlcles are introduced in any -suitable manner, one

by one, right side up `so that they will fall vertically and rest upon the top of lthe car- -rier f20. A

The operation of the machine is as -follows: When the motor is started, the car-k riers commence to move in a direction to convey the articles from the left toward the right-handl end of the machine, and the pump commences to throw the liquid\paraf fin into the passageway or chamber through which the'articles are conveyed by the carrier. As the articles are passed downward through the opening 45 and deposited upon the carrier, they ar'e immediately moved forwardpbythe carrier so that a bottle upon the carrier will not interfere with one which 1s being lntroducedinto the chamber. The bottles or vessels of whatever form they may be, rest upon the carrier with their hollow side upward, and as they come within range of the nozzles 40 and 41, they are sprayed, both internally and externally. The nozzles 41, however, are supposed to be of such capacities that they will fill the vessels with the center of gravity of the vessels. As the vessels pass over the sprocket-wheel 21, their paraiiin aId thus elevate they l lower portions are struck and retarded by the cross-rod 42, while the momentuml of.

the vessel,l together with the elevated posi.-

tion of its center of gravity, causes the up-vr per part of the bottle to tip over forward, the vessel continuing to turn until its mouth or open end is presented straightdownward, when it falls onto the lower carrier and its motion is then continued onward to the rear end of the machine. Of course, when the vessel is thus turned upside down, its con-v tents of liquid paraflin isemptied and falls vback into the tank through the open space in the top of the table. Thereafter, the bottle continues to drain until it has passed the rear end of the tank, at which time the -i's obvious that by restricting the How of paraffin through these. nozzles, the interior surface `of the vessel may be sprayed with paraffin similarly to the method employed 1n spraying the exterior surface. Y This machine has been designed particularly for paraning paper milk bottles, and

is adapted for any size of such a vessel. The quart sizes will easily turn upside down at the point where they are thrown from the upper carrier to the lower, without the aid of the cross-rod 42, but the smaller sizes, especially the half-pints, require the retardation of theirlower portions in order to permit the momentum of the upper portion to turn them over. When the smaller sizes of bottles are being treated, a guard 4:7 may be inserted in the chamber to prevent the bottles from turning over too far; when a bottle reaches its inverted position, the bottom strikes this guard and is prevented from turning further. This guard is not used when the larger bottles are being n treated.

My invention obviously is not limited to the particular number or arrangement of nozzles shown in the drawing, since any number may be used both above and below the path of the articles to insure that their surfaces will be fully covered. Likewise, the nozzles may be directed slightly to the right or left as well as straight upward, so as to strike the front and rear of the vessels as they approach and recede from the nozzle.

I am aware of that class of paraiiining machines in which the vessels are placed in a carrier and conducted through a tank of paraffin, but so far as known to me, it has never been proposed to spray the vessels with the parain as they are moved along upon or: by a carrier. One of the difficulties in operating in this manner is to prevent waste of the paraffin. In my machine, the spraying is done in a closed chamber, the walls and surfaces inside of which are heated so that the parain that does not actually cling to the surfaces of the vessels undergoing treatment, drains downward and is conducted back to the tank. The paraffin that is collected in the higher portion of the chamber eventually reaches the inclined drain-board and is thereby conducted to the tank, while in the lower part of the chamber, the paraflin, as above mentioned, falls directly into the open top of the tank.

Having described my invention, I claim l. In a coating machine for receptacles and the like, the combination of an elongated chamber', a moving skeleton carrier extending through the same upon which the articles to be coated rest, nozzles located at various points along said chamber arranged to direct the flow of coating material against the interior and eXterior surfaces of the receptacles to be coated, the walls of said chamber being in close proximity to the carrier and spaced apart a width to prevent lateral displacement of the receptacles to be coated when subjected to the flow of coating material.

2. In a coating machine for receptacles and the like, the combination of an elongated chamber, a moving carrier comprising a plurality of endless belts spaced from each other extending through said chamber and on which the articles to be coated rest, nozzles located along said chamber arranged above and below said carrier to direct the flow` of coating material against the interior and eXterior surfaces of the receptacle to be coated, the walls of said chamber being in close proximity to the end belts of the carrier, said walls being spaced apart a width to prevent lateral displacement of the receptacles while subjected to the iow of the coating material.`

In witness whereof, I `subscribe my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

WALDo M. CHAI-IN, IDA M. PATTERSON. 

